Miles Morales had been having a good day. He aced his Spanish test, stopped a convenience store robbery, ended a car chase, and on top of that, he finished binge watching "The Mandalorian" with his friend, Ganke. He would have even said it was a great day, if it wasn't for Rhino breaking out of prison for the sixth time this month!
That's right. Six times! Miles was sick and tired of putting this guy in prison over and over again. Why couldn't he just go to his cell and stay there? On top of that the hero always ended up bruised and drained after each fight.
"I'm gonna crush you, puny spider!" Rhino barked as he charged horn-first in Miles's direction. Spider-man leapt out of the way, perching on a nearby street lamp.
"Come on, Man. You say that every time and it never happens," Miles replied with an exasperated sigh as the villain crashed into a car behind him.
Rhino attempted another attack, this time landing a strike on the street pole as the spider evaded his hit. The pole snapped in half and Miles winced as it fell and landed on what looked like a brand new BMW, crushing the hood and shattering the glass on the front windshield.
"I'm sorry to whoever owns that car."
"Look Rhino, I know you really wanna kill me or whatever and that's cool," Miles stated with a shrug, before landing a strong kick to Rhino's jaw, causing his head to snap back from the impact. Rhino let out an enraged growl. "But can we please skip to the part where I knock you out and the nice policemen take you back to jail?" the boy continued, somewhat jokingly.
Rhino threw a fist a Miles. The kid ducked and shot a web at his hand. He jumped onto the back of the giant rhino suit and yanked on the webbing, making, the crook give himself a blow to the face with his own oversized, mechanical fist.
Miles made his way back down to the pavement watching as the civilians ran away from the commotion, screaming. Traffic had been stopped. People were scrambling to abandon their cars and parents were grabbing their children to carry them as far away as possible.
The brief moment that he was distracted was enough of an opening for Rhino. He rushed at Miles and slammed horn-first, into his right shoulder, sending the hero sailing backwards until his back collided with a concrete wall behind him.
Miles groaned, his left hand gravitating to clutch his wounded shoulder. "You could've just said no," he spoke, pain dripping from his voice.
Spider-man's abuser stalked toward him as he staggered to his feet. "Not too easy without your spider-friends huh?" the villain taunted, as he circled him like a predator hunting it's prey. When he charged again, Miles just barely had time to dodge, ducking and rolling out of the way.
He looked behind him just in time to see Rhino run straight into a power line, the wires disconnecting and getting tangled into the limbs of his suit. An electric current raced through the suit and Rhino released a distorted howl of pain. The mechanical suit shook and convulsed until the two glowing red eyes dimmed and the suit made a whirring sound, signaling it powering off.
Rhino collapsed to the ground, the metal making a loud clanging sound as it hit the street below. Miles took one last look at his now unconscious foe, before releasing a breath. "Why can't all of our fights end like this?" he muttered.
Police sirens sounded in the distance and Miles took that as his cue to leave. Despite how much he did to help them, the PDNY officers were not too fond of the masked vigilante, Jefferson Davis probably taking the cake for liking him least.
Using his good arm, Miles swung himself back to his house. It was Saturday, meaning he didn't have to go back to his dorm room and answer Ganke's plethora of questions about how the fight went. He could just go home, crash onto his bed, and sleep.
After crawling into his bedroom, through the window he always left unlocked, Spider-man changed out of his spider-suit and into his pajamas. He put on a pair of black sweatpants and winced at the strain it put on his shoulder, as he pulled a semi-clean white t-shirt over his head.
He laid back in his bed when something pushed itself to the front of his mind. Something Rhino had mentioned during their fight.
"... Your spider-friends..."
Miles missed them. It had been two years since he'd seen them. Two years since he became Spider-man. Two years since he sent them back to their dimensions and destroyed Kingpin's super-collider.
Miles thought about Noir, Peni, Ham, Peter, Gwen. Actually he thought about her a lot, more than he would ever admit.
"It's been so long. She's probably forgotten all about me."
He sighed as he grabbed his Sony headphones from off his nightstand and placed them over his ears, trying to tune out his thoughts with the beat of his favorite song, "Sunflower". He let the lyrics wash over him as he closed his eyes and let himself fall into a much needed sleep.
That is until he heard a voice.
"Miles?" The voice called. It sounded eerily familiar. "Miles?" It repeated causing his eyes to finally flutter open to find the source.
His eyes immediately met a bright light that filled his bedroom with rays of purple, pink, and blue. Once his vision came to focus his eyes widened and his breath hitched in his throat. He was met with the sight of a familiar face. A face he had not seen in the last two years. A face that could always bring a smile to his own. A face he thought he would only ever see again in his dreams.
"You got a minute?" she asked as a grin spread across her face.
"Gwen?" he questioned in disbelief, his voice not much more than a whisper, as he looked up at her in doubt.
"Who else, Spider-Man?" she joked.
"But... But how are you here? Why are you here? W-Won't you glitch? How is-" Miles wasn't able to get out another word before she grabbed his shoulders and yanked him through the portal.
Next thing he knew he was falling through a void, being pulled in a specific direction by an unknown force. He flailed about to no avail, until he finally saw an opening. He closed his eyes as he was pulled through, and when he opened them again, Miles realized he was in a totally different room, completely encased in futuristic technology. His pupils dilated in shock as he sat there on the floor.
"You okay?" Gwen asked as she reached out a hand to help him up.
His eyes scanned the room. He had never seen a room as technologically advanced as this one. computer screens were everywhere, from the walls to the refrigerator. There even seemed to be some sort of nanotechnology embedded in the wall, which made it give off a soft blue glow. Miles had never seen anything like it.
As soon as he was on his feet he questioned Gwen a bit frantically, "What's going on?"
She gave him a smile before pointing at a weird-looking watch on her wrist. "A Spider-Man from the future made watches that make it possible for us to travel dimensions and not glitch."
Miles blinked once, then twice, then a third time, before taking a good look at the device. It looked almost like a smart watch but way more advanced. "That's... amazing," he whispered in awe.
"Yeah," she said quietly, causing the boy to look up at her. It finally hit him that I was with Gwen Stacy. The girl he had been constantly thinking about was right here standing in front of him.
"It's good to see you," he said with a smile as he stared into her crystal blue eyes.
He watched as a small smile made its way onto her face. "You too," she said softly.
The two locked eyes and gazed in silence for a few moments. Miles studied her. She was wearing her white and black spider-suit, but her mask was off, showcasing her pretty blue eyes and golden hair, which he just noticed had now grown back and now sat at her shoulders in the same style it had been in before Miles got his fingers stuck in her hair, forcing her to shave half of it. A grin made it's way to his face. "I like your haircut," he said smugly, earning a chuckle from her and he could have sworn he saw her cheeks turn a slight pink. Miles shook his head and finally decided to ask, "Where... are we?" He gestured to the room around them.
She grinned as she answered, "Earth 928." Miles was beyond confused. She only smirked at his expression, "I wasn't the only one that wanted to see you." As if on cue they heard a boisterous shout come from outside the room they were in, causing both Miles and Gwen to snap their heads towards it.
"THAT IS SO NOT TRUE!" A voice exclaimed.
"Dude, it's not a big deal," a low voice replied with a groan.
"I DO NOT EAT LIKE A PIG!" The first voice hollered.
"You literally are a pig," a third voice giggled. This voice was a lot higher pitched than the first two.
Miles's eyes lit up as the owners of the three voices exited the hallway. It was Peter B., Peni, Ham, and silently following close behind them was Noir. They didn't take notice of the two teenagers at first, continuing their argument.
"I still think he should take it back. If anyone eats like a pig it's him," Ham grumbled, while crossing his arms. His bottom lip jutted out as he pouted like a child.
"He's got a point, Peter," Peni replied with a smile turning from Ham to Peter, her hands swinging carelessly at her sides as she skipped through the hallway.
"Fine," Peter sighed reluctantly, "I take it back." He rolled his eyes and held his hands up in mock surrender. "Sorry for saying that Porky here, eats like a pig."
Ham let out an angry snort, "I'm gonna-"
"Hey guys," Gwen called, interrupting their seemingly pointless argument.
At that all their heads turned to them and Peni's eyes sparkled with glee, "MIIIILES!" She squealed so loud Miles thought he might've heard glass shatter. She ran to him at lightning speed and wrapped her arms around his torso, crushing the air from his lungs.
Miles tried prying her arms off of him, "H-hey, Peni," he muttered.
"Peni, you're gonna suffocate him," Gwen remarked from his right, a breath of a laugh escaping her lips. Peni finally released him from her deadly grip and looked up at him with a smile so wide it looked as if her face might split in half.
"Hello there, Miles," Noir greeted as he outstretched a hand toward him. The pair gripped hands and shook.
"PIE FACE!" Ham suddenly hollered. Miles's spider-sense rang and he ducked just as a pie flew past him and collided with the wall behind him. He turned to see Ham with a mischievous look on his face.
"Nobody escapes my pies," he said as he reached behind his back and pulled out two more pies, seemingly out of thin air. The young hero immediately turned invisible and moved out of the way, not wanting to end up covered in pie.
"Hey, no fair!" Ham whined as he dropped both pies onto the floor with a splat. Miles let out a chuckle as he reappeared.
"Nice going, Kid," he heard and turned to see Peter watching him with his usual lazy grin.
"Peter!" he yelled excitedly as he pulled him into an embrace.
"Yeah, yeah. I knew I was your favorite," he chuckled as he reprocated the hug.
"Hey! Why can he hug you, but I can't?" Peni whined.
"Because, Peter's not strangling him," came Gwen's sarcastic remark. Peni just playfully stuck her tongue out at her in response.
Miles chuckled and everyone else soon followed. It felt so great to be able to see and laugh with his friends again. He thought he'd never be able to see them again, but here they are. His friends were here laughing along with him.
Miles stopped laughing for a minute to appreciate the fact that they were actually here. It brought a smile to his face to see them all. Sadly he couldn't dwell on that too long before a pain like he had never felt before ripped through his body. It was absolutely agonizing. It felt as if his entire body was being torn apart and stitched back together repeatedly.
He immediately fell to the floor and let out a muffled, distorted whimper of pain. He clamped his eyes shut as he heard a chorus of gasps surround him. Once the pain finally subsided he curled himself up into a ball, hoping to stop the small shivers racing through his body.
"You okay, Kid?" Peter asked worriedly as he pulled him to his feet.
"What was that?" he asked repeatedly blinking, trying to clear his hazy vision.
"You glitched," Noir answered nonchalantly.
Miles's eyes traveled across everyone's concerned looks. "Oh," came his simple reply.
"Here, I forgot to give you this," Peni said. She reached out her open hand toward me with a wide smile. In her hand was a red watch that was identical to the one Gwen was wearing. Now that he took a look he realized that they all had identical red watches secured around their wrists.
"It'll keep you from glitching and allow all of us to call and text each other as well as travel to and from dimensions," she continued, sounding like a salesperson as she talked about the device. Miles took the watch from her hand and inspected it. If he looked closely enough he could see that -just like the walls- the material almost appeared to be glowing a light shade of blue.
"It's a called a goober," Peter said matter of factly as he held up his watch in the air.
"No, It's a gizmo," Peni hissed as she sent Peter and scowl. She was honestly pretty scary.
"Fine, to each his own," Peter replied with a shrug, which gained an exaggerated huff from Peni.
Miles quickly slipped the gizmo onto his hand, never wanting to feel a glitch again, and admired how surprisingly comfortable it felt on his wrist.
"Awesome," he whispered in complete admiration as he turned his wrist back and forth. He turned his attention back to Peni, as he asked her, "So, did you make this? It seems really advanced."
Peni turned her glare from Peter and looked to Miles her expression immediately shifting to a grin. "I wish I could take the credit," she began, "but actually it was made by-"
"Me," A gruff voice interrupted her. Miles turned his head to see a tall man in a dark navy and red spider-suit that he noticed had the same faint glow in it as the gizmos. His suit had red blades attached to the arms and the spider emblem in the center seemed to almost represent a skull.
He pulled his mask from his face, revealing his light brown skin and straight, chestnut brown hair that matched the color of his eyes.
"The name's Miguel O'Hara."